The Poker Lab Rat

What is the best strategy in a turbo tournament?

In a turbo multi-table tournament, you should play the very early blind rounds the same as you would a regular freezeout mtt. However, when the blinds begin to get large in relation to the average stack, you should be much more concerned with pre-flop starting hands, and be willing to push good pre-flop cards all-in, even if it’s just a coinflip.

In turbo tournaments, you must be the aggressor and be willing to gamble, in order to accumulate chips enough to survive the quick pace of the blinds.

A similar strategy adjustment is necessary for sit-and-go turbo tournaments as well, although in those tournaments, at the end you must be even more willing to gamble because the blinds will rise quite quickly relative to the total chips in play, and the tournament will be shorthanded (unlike the MTT) meaning you have even less time to wait.

Be aggressive and try to get in situations where either you are ahead when you go all-in, or it is a coinflip with dead chips in the pot (chips in the pot from players no longer contesting the pot).

Just remember never to raise pre-flop an amount which leaves you with less than 2/3s or what you started the hand with, unless you also push all-in when making that raise.

Good luck at the tables!
- Coach

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